we are really peaceful people. but the new generation is, of course, pro democratic, the new generation know how we can live if we have a normal government. if we have normal management, our people wouldn t live in poverty in our country. but you said to me at the very beginning of this interview that putin s invasion of ukraine has changed everything. and i understand what you re saying, because it seems to me it s changed the nature of the decision that belarusian people have to make about their future. they may say that freedom and democracy involves turning westward, but they may also see for themselves that if they make that decision, the reality is russia, putin, will bring terrible retribution upon them and will seek to control them by military force. so there s a new, stark choice facing your people. which way will they go? i think people now understand that there is a possibility of the second iron curtain between russia and western
of belarus that neighbours chernobyl. have you heard anything about what is happening inside the chernobyl nuclear power plant? i have the same information as you have from the media. but, of course, it s so painful, the question about chernobyl and possible disaster, because the communications were cut off. i understand, i realise that it could be a nuclear catastrophe for the whole region, for the whole europe, and, you know, we have to do everything possible to stop this. i understand that, you know, for the kremlin, this war, people s lives don t mean anything. but for us for belarusians, for ukrainians, for the democratic world it means a lot, and wejust have to do everything possible, you know, to stop this. it s awful. you have not been able to live inside your own country
maybe shame, you know? he s doing it, and we are belarusians feeling this shame that we became aggressive towards our brother, ukraine. you talk about shame, but i guess in practical terms there is nothing that any belarus civilian can do to try to affect what is happening. there were 30,000 russian troops on that border in a joint military exercise with lukashenko s forces. they, of course, have now moved into ukraine. there was no possibility that any belarusian civilian could stop that happening. look, we are fighting against lukashenko s regime for a year and a half, and a lot has been done for this period of time. of course, people can t see those beautiful big rallies on the streets of belarus because of massive repressions from side of the belarusian regime. but for this year and a half, we started a lot of initiatives. we created a lot of organisations to fight with regime, and now all these
grip on power may be weakened, he is still there. there are, according to the un s latest human rights report on belarus, roughly 1,000 political prisoners still being held, including your own husband. and your movement basically has gone completely underground. the street protests are almost wiped out. most of your key leaders are either in exile or in prison. lukashenko seems to have won. lukashenko didn t win. every day, he knows that he is not recognised by his people. he s not recognised by international society. he s not recognised by democratic leaders. and so i want to ask the same question, why are political prisoners still in prisons?
and we didn t want something like this to repeat in our lands. but illegitimate lukashenko has to pay for the support he got from the kremlin after the fraudulent election in 2020. and now he s paying with our sovereignty, with our lands. and, you know, i really feel maybe shame, you know? he s doing it, and we belarusians feeling this shame that we became aggressive towards our brother, ukraine. you talk about shame, but i guess in practical terms there is nothing that any belarus civilian can do to try to affect what is happening. there were 30,000 russian troops on that border in a joint military exercise with lukashenko s forces. they, of course, have now moved into ukraine. there was no possibility that any belarusian civilian could stop that happening.